For those Christians who, hearing about the
latest publicity stunt by some of their more far-out brethren, mutter with embarrassment, “
Jesus needs new PR,” here’s a candidate for the
job of PR agent: James Martin. Martin’s Jesus:
A Pilgrimage (HarperOne) debuts at #20 on our
nonfiction list; Martin is a Jesuit, a frequent
media commentator, a fixture on Catholic bestselling lists, and the occasional chaplain of The
Colbert Report. His newest book mixes his
thoughtful reflections with stories of his pilgrimage to the Holy Land. In a starred review,

PW called the book an imaginative exploration
that “communicates a joyful faith in God’s
healing and the ultimate hope offered by the
Resurrection.” Martin was a big hit at the recently concluded Los Angeles Religious Education Congress, where he spoke to 5,000 religious
educators and kept signing books; media hits
include PBS’s Charlie Rose Show and CNN’s The
Lead with Jake Tapper; to come are MSNBC’s

Morning Joe and PRI’s The Tavis Smiley Show.Religious mediaincludes excerpts in Americamagazine, Christian Century, and ReligionNews Service; Martin was a guest on CardinalTimothy Dolan’s radio show on the CatholicChannel on Sirius Radio. He’s easy to find onTwitter, with almost 40,000 followers, andthere’s a dedicated website, www.jamesmartinsj.com, and video syndicationvia You Tube and elsewhere.

“What a great publishingstory Jim Martin has be-come,” says Mark Tauber,HarperOne senior v-p andpublisher. “Over the last sixto seven years, Jim hasgrown into perhaps the lead-ing mainstream voice forCatholics today in the U.S. Four books later,and he is hitting higher on bestseller lists thanever. And all this from a guy who has taken alifelong vow of poverty!” —Marcia Z. Nelson

There’s Gold for C.J. Box in
Wyoming’s Black Hills

Joe Pickett’s world

C.J. Box’s latest Joe Pickettnovel, Stone Cold, debuts thisweek at #6 on our HardcoverFiction bestseller list. Thistime around, Pickett, official-ly a game warden but really atroubleshooter for the gover-nor of Wyoming, travels tothe Black Hills, in the remote northeast corner of the state. He’s been sentthere to investigate a mysterious, retired millionaire, who may have launcheda second career running a high-end murder-for-hire business. “Unlike yourstandard-issue action hero,” PW explained in its review, “Joe uses his wits,taking time to assess the literal and figurative lay of the land.”The Rocky Mountain region, with its spectacular but desolate landscapes,figures prominently in Box’s 18 books, which include four stand-alones be-sides the 14 Joe Pickett novels; a collection of short stories from “Joe PickettCountry” will be published this summer. It’s because, Box explains, the earthitself dominates day-to-day existence in the American West— whether it’sthe ongoing controversy over fracking, determining water and mineral rights,or simply surviving harsh winters. Before writing Stone Cold, Box traveledfrom his home outside Cheyenne to a part of Wyoming that he describes as“rugged, beautiful, and filled with secrets,” scouting locations and getting toknow the terrain and the culture. Unlike his other novels, with their storylines driven by ecological issues, Box says that Stone Cold was inspired by astory friends told him several years ago about a wealthy rancher and philan-thropist in a remote part of the state who would fly away periodically in hisprivate plane, returning weeks later with huge amounts of cash. “The rumorwas that the local philanthropist was a high-class hit man,” Box says. “But be-cause he was so generous, no one asked many questions.” —Claire Kirch